


Breathing Easy

by adrianna_m_scovill



Category: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - All Media Types, Trouble in the Heights (2011)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Asthma, Family Feels, Fluff, M/M, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-18 01:53:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28984431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adrianna_m_scovill/pseuds/adrianna_m_scovill
Summary: A late-night medical emergency forces Nevada to face his feelings
Relationships: Caractacus Potts/Nevada Ramirez
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20
Collections: Valentine's Day 2021 exchange





	Breathing Easy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [uiveleth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/uiveleth/gifts).



“Daddy!”

Nevada rolled off the bed before he was fully awake, his bare feet hitting the floor and his hand reaching for the gun that wasn’t on the nightstand as he blinked the dark room into focus. A moment later he squinted, cursing quietly as Caractacus turned on the lamp and blinded him.

Jemima pounded on the door a second time, calling again for her father, and Nevada realized at the last moment that he was naked. He threw himself toward the bathroom, disappearing inside just as Caractacus unlocked and opened the bedroom door. 

Nevada grabbed dirty jeans from the hamper and yanked them on before snatching a shirt and hurrying out of the room. He could hear Jemima’s frantic voice, but Nevada didn’t catch what she was saying. Something about her brother. 

Nevada pulled the shirt over his head as he strode out of the bedroom and followed the sounds of voices into Jeremy’s room. The overhead light was on and Jeremy was sitting on the bed, his face pale and his lips tinged blue. Nevada’s blood ran cold at the sight of him and he froze just inside the room.

Caractacus was already seated on the edge of the bed beside the boy, one hand on Jeremy’s back and the other pressed against the kid’s chest. “Slow and easy, sweetheart,” Caractacus was saying, his voice remarkably calm despite the sheer panic shining in Jeremy’s eyes. 

“His inhaler isn’t working,” Jemima said. She was a bundle of nervous energy about to explode, pacing in agitated circles like she didn’t know what to do with herself. Nevada could understand the impulse.

“Alright,” Caractacus answered. He watched Jeremy raise the inhaler with a trembling hand, watched him take a puff, but Jeremy was wheezing loudly enough to make the hairs on Nevada’s nape stand at uneasy attention. “How long has this been going on?” Caractacus asked, glancing at Jemima.

“I just woke up and came in here,” she said, close to tears. “I don’t know.”

Jeremy tried to speak but couldn’t get any words out, and he dropped the inhaler into his lap to clutch at his father’s pajama sleeve. 

“Mimi, get my shoes, please,” Caractacus said, and she almost knocked Nevada aside in her hurry to get out of the room to oblige. “You’re okay, Rem,” Caractacus told Jeremy, rising to his feet. “I know you’re scared.” Caractacus glanced at Nevada, and Nevada realized that _Caractacus_ was scared. Scared shitless and doing his best to stay calm for the kids. “We’ll go to the hospital, it isn’t far. Just focus on one breath at a time.”

Caractacus’s fear broke Nevada’s paralysis, and he crossed the room in a few strides. “I’ve got him, find my keys,” Nevada said, scooping the wheezing boy into his arms and whirling toward the door.

Caractacus didn’t argue, instead hurrying out of the room ahead of Nevada and jogging to the table to grab the car keys. He paused long enough to slip into the shoes that Jemima dropped at his feet, and then he was leading the way out the front door into the night. Nevada had no idea what time it was, but he guessed somewhere between midnight and three. 

“Nevada, your boots,” Jemima said, rushing after him.

“Bring ‘em,” he said without looking back, cutting quickly across the prickly grass to get to his car. Jeremy was clutching handfuls of his shirt, wheezing with each desperate attempt to draw air, and Nevada looked down at his pale face in the moonlight. “You’re not dying, kid,” Nevada said, aware that his words sounded as much like a plea as a promise. 

Nevada had looked into too many young faces as the light of life left their eyes, and he was not going to watch it happen to Jeremy. He could tell himself it was because Caractacus would never survive the loss of one of his children, but Nevada knew it was more than that. Jeremy was a good kid, a sweet kid, and he deserved a long and happy, healthy life. 

Caractacus couldn’t lose a child, and Jemima couldn’t lose her brother. Nevada couldn’t bear the crushing weight of his own feelings and fears, so he shoved them back and down. It was enough to focus on theirs.

Caractacus opened the back door and got inside, turning to reach for his son. 

“You’ll be fine, I promise,” Nevada said before handing Jeremy into his father’s arms. “Front,” he barked at Jemima as he closed the back door, and she hurried around with his boots still clutched in her hands as Nevada dropped into the driver’s seat. Caractacus handed the keys forward and in a moment the engine roared loudly to life. Jemima got in and was still closing her door as Nevada hit the gas. 

“Seatbelt,” Caractacus said, and Jemima quickly fumbled into hers. Nevada ignored the command, instead focusing on the deserted street as he floored the accelerator. The sound of the engine almost drowned out Jeremy’s whistling breaths. Almost.

Nevada slowed at a red light before accelerating through it when there were no nearby cars, and he’d only made it another block before a siren split the night and flashing lights filled the back window and mirrors. 

“Nevada,” Caractacus said with barely-controlled panic running through his voice.

“Relax,” Nevada answered with a glance in the mirror. “He ain’t gonna shoot out the tires, we’re almost there.”

“You’ll be in trouble,” Jemima said, her voice several octaves higher than usual.

“Don’t worry, _Dama_ ,” Nevada answered absently with another uneasy glance at the police car. “It’s an emergency.” He spoke with more conviction than he felt. He had no outstanding warrants so far as he knew, but there was no telling what a run of his plate might show. He deserved to be in prison for the things he’d done. He just didn’t know if the cops knew that.

He was thankful it wasn’t much further to the hospital. Hopefully there wouldn’t be time for the officer to call in backup for a high speed chase through the streets. Nevada blew through one more red light, with the cop car hot on his ass, before turning into the hospital lot and screeching to a halt in front of the emergency room entrance. 

The cop killed his siren but left the lights flashing as he pulled up at an angle, partially blocking Nevada’s car. 

“Lemme out first,” Nevada said before Caractacus could open the back door. 

“Nevada.”

“I got it,” Nevada answered, getting quickly out of the car and putting his hands in the air. The pavement was cool beneath his bare feet, and he supposed he probably looked like a lunatic—dirty, wrinkled clothes, no shoes, hair stuck up from sleep, eyes full of panic. “Got a kid that needs a doctor, here,” he called as the cop got cautiously from his car. “Sorry about not stopping, but the kid can’t breathe. Write me a ticket or whatever but we gotta get him inside.” Nevada gestured for Caractacus to get out the other side of the car, and Jemima jumped out and opened the back passenger door. 

The cop’s whole posture and demeanor changed when he saw Caractacus struggle out of the backseat with Jeremy’s limp body and rush into the hospital with Jemima at his side. 

“Go, go, be with your family,” the cop said.

Nevada wanted to be relieved, but he couldn’t shake the image of Jeremy’s loose frame clutched in Caractacus’s arms. The kid appeared to be unconscious, and Nevada felt like _he_ couldn’t breathe. He’d promised, promised Jeremy that he would be okay, promised the three of them that their family would be safe. 

“Wait, sir, you need to move your vehicle first,” the cop said when Nevada started toward the hospital. 

“Right,” Nevada said, shaking his head and turning back toward the open driver’s side door. 

“And...do you have shoes?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah.” Nevada gestured vaguely toward the car. “I got it.” He folded himself into the car and waited until the cop pulled out of the way, and then Nevada found the first available parking spot and killed the engine. He leaned over to fish his boots out of the passenger footwell and pulled them on.

He sat there for long moments, considering his options. Part of him wanted to flee. He was terrified to go inside, to face what might be happening. He could leave and never look back. Or he could simply wait in the car. They probably didn’t want him inside, anyway. He wasn’t family, and they had each other. He would only be in the way.

“Fuck you, you fucking fuck,” he muttered under his breath. He got out of the car and started toward the hospital, breaking into a jog halfway. As soon as he got inside, he strode up to the desk and said, “Where’s the man who just came in here with the boy—”

“Are you family?” the woman asked before he could finish the question. 

“Nevada,” Jemima said, hurrying toward him from the waiting area around the corner. She had tears streaking her face, and when she reached for him he picked her up without thinking about it. She was too old to be held, but she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face against his shirt. “Daddy said to wait here with you.”

“Shh,” Nevada said, rubbing lightly at her back. He walked toward the waiting area, because he knew that threatening the woman at the desk, or trying to rush through the doors, wouldn’t help the situation. “It’s gonna be okay.”

“My chest hurts,” she murmured into his shirt. “It’s Remy. I woke up and I knew he wasn’t okay.”

Nevada didn’t question that. If she said it was true, it was true, and he didn’t need an explanation. “You saved him, got him here so the doctors can get him breathing. He’ll be okay, he’s tough.” Compared to Jemima, Jeremy seemed soft and sensitive, but Nevada knew the boy was stronger than first impressions might indicate. “Let’s sit,” Nevada said despite his desire to pace or run or punch a wall. 

He set her on her feet, but as soon as he sank into a chair she crawled up onto his lap, drew up her legs, and curled against him. He was surprised, but he looped his arm behind her back. He wasn’t sure what else to say; he wasn’t good at giving comfort, and his promises that Jeremy would be alright were nothing but words. There was nothing he could do to insure them. 

She didn’t say anything, or ask for anything. After a few minutes he felt her relaxing, felt the tension leaving her small frame, and after another minute she finally broke the silence with three quiet words.

“He’s better now.”

Nevada felt some of his own fears ease, and he listened to her breathing fall into a slow and steady rhythm as she slipped into sleep in his lap. He watched the doors, waiting for some sign of Caractacus, but it was another ten minutes before he emerged. By then, Jemima had grown heavier against Nevada’s arm, and her head had begun to loll against his shoulder.

Caractacus appeared in his wrinkled plaid pajamas, his hair stuck up at every angle, his face drawn and tired, and his eyes found Nevada’s before slipping down to his sleeping daughter for a few seconds. He crossed the floor toward them, his shoes squeaking against the linoleum until he reached the line of thin carpeting at the edge of the waiting area.

“He’s alright,” Caractacus said quietly. “We’ll be here a little while yet, just for observation.”

“The hell happened? I didn’t know it could be that bad.”

Caractacus shook his head. “He’s never had an attack like this. We had one scare after his mother…” He trailed off and sighed, running a hand over his face. “He cried himself into a bit of a panic and couldn’t get control, but it wasn’t this bad. He said he had a nightmare and couldn’t catch his breath and then it just spiraled from there.” He looked at Jemima. “She knew something was wrong, and thank God for that.”

“But he’s okay? It won’t happen again?”

“We’ll keep an eye on him, monitor his inhaler usage, make sure the asthma isn’t getting worse. But for right now, he’s fine. As long as his breathing stays good for the next little bit, we can take him home.” He paused. “If you want to go, it’s fine. No need to sit here and wait, I can call you or get a taxi—”

“Fuck off,” Nevada said, his tone far gentler than his words, and Caractacus smiled.

Bending down to brush Jemima’s hair back from her face, he said, “Wake up, Mimi.” When her eyelids fluttered open, Caractacus offered her a smile. “He’s doing much better, we can go back and sit with him for a little while before we leave, alright?” He helped her slide off Nevada’s lap and smiled again when she yawned. He pulled her into a hug. “I love you, poppet.”

“Love you, too, Daddy,” she said. “Also I have your wallet.”

Caractacus laughed and bent down to kiss her head. “Good on you, love, I thought I might have to give up a kidney or something. Glad one of us was thinking rationally.”

“We’d have no shoes or money,” Nevada said as he got to his feet.

“Boys,” Jemima muttered, walking toward the doors, and Nevada grinned at Caractacus as the inventor chuckled.

“Glad that cop didn’t ask for my license.”

“I’m glad he didn’t give you any trouble.”

Nevada stepped forward and wrapped Caractacus in a hug, and Caractacus released a shuddery breath against the other man’s shirt. “I can wait out here if you want family time.”

“Fuck off,” Caractacus murmured, squeezing Nevada in a hard embrace for several moments before drawing back and planting a quick kiss on his smiling lips. 

“Okay,” Nevada said, looping an arm around Caractacus’s lower back as they started after Jemima, “but let’s get some money from your kid, I need coffee.”

  
  


* * *

Both kids were asleep in the backseat when Nevada pulled up to the house. The sky had just begun to lighten, painting the pre-dawn world in shades of gray. 

When Caractacus turned in his seat to tell the children they were home, Nevada stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Might as well let 'em sleep,” he said quietly. “I’ll get one.”

Caractacus leaned over to kiss him. “Thanks for your help tonight.”

“I didn’t do—”

“Yes, you did. Nevada, if anything ever happened to them...”

Nevada cupped a hand to Caractacus’s jaw. “It won’t,” he said. “They’re fine. He’s fine.”

Caractacus nodded and drew a deep breath. “Right. Let’s get inside before sunrise.” Nevada watched him turn and climb out of the car, and after a moment followed suit. 

Jeremy was behind the driver’s seat, so Nevada fished the sleeping boy out and carried him to the house while Caractacus got Jemima. The front door was unlocked—Jemima hadn’t thought of _everything_ , Nevada thought with an amused half-smile. He carried Jeremy into the boy’s bedroom and laid him down. 

Jeremy was already in his pajamas and wasn’t wearing shoes, so Nevada pulled the covers up over him and started to leave.

“Daddy?” Jeremy asked sleepily.

“Ah, no,” Nevada said. “Sorry kid.”

“Nevada.”

“Right. You need something? Water, or…whiskey?”

“No,” Jeremy said, and Nevada could hear the smile in his voice. “Were you scared the cop would take you to jail?”

Nevada considered a moment before admitting, “Little bit.” He hesitated, but he could see Jeremy’s eyes shining at him in the dimness. “More worried about you.”

“Really?”

“Sure.” Nevada moved back to the edge of the bed. “What about you? Were you scared?” he asked. He knew the answer, he’d seen the terror in Jeremy’s eyes when the boy couldn’t breathe. He was curious how Jeremy would respond to the question, though.

“I knew Dad would help,” Jeremy said, but his gaze dropped and the answer was an obvious hedge.

“Sure. He’s good at that kinda thing.” Nevada waited, but it didn’t seem like the boy was going to say anything else. “I know what it feels like, not being able to breathe.” When Jeremy looked up, Nevada gestured in his direction. “Not like you, but let’s just say I know how it feels.” Nevada tapped his own chest with his fingers. “That _pánico_.”

“I was scared,” Jeremy finally whispered.

Nevada nodded and sat on the edge of the bed. “Be crazy not to.”

“You said I’d be okay,” Jeremy said, still barely audible.

Nevada, afraid of saying the wrong thing, considered his words for several moments before speaking. “I was scared, too, kid, I ain’t gonna lie. But here’s what I know. I can’t do nothin to fix your lungs, but I can drive fast. I can’t help you breathe but I can carry you and get you to people who can. And if you wake up scared, you bang the wall or ring a bell or something and I can come chase away the monsters.”

“Monsters aren’t real.”

Nevada didn’t point out that monsters were in fact _very_ real—they were just typically in human form. “Point is, I got your back. I mean I know you don’t need me with _Chiflado_ and _Dama_ around, but just in case.”

“Thanks,” Jeremy said quietly. After a brief pause, he added, “I have your back, as well.”

Nevada smiled at how _proper_ he sounded for such a little guy; their accents and phrasing still amused Nevada sometimes. “For what?” he asked, mostly curious about what Jeremy would come up with.

“Well.” Jeremy thought about it. “If the police catch you speeding, I can pretend to be sick. So you don’t get in trouble.”

Nevada laughed. “That’s sweet, kid. Go back to sleep, huh? Don’t forget, just bang on the wall or something if you get scared again.”

“Okay,” Jeremy said on a yawn. Nevada got to his feet. “I love you,” Jeremy said, quietly and a bit cautiously.

Nevada swallowed, meeting the boy’s eyes. The words were unexpected, and his instinct was to deflect; to say thanks or goodnight and duck out of the room. “Love you, too,” he said instead, watching as Jeremy closed his eyes and burrowed down into the covers. 

Nevada looked over as Caractacus appeared in the doorway. Nevada walked toward him, and Caractacus briefly touched a hand to Nevada’s stomach as they passed. Caractacus went to Jeremy’s bed to make sure he was settled in, and Nevada went to strip out of the dirty clothes he was wearing and slip into their bed. He’d just gotten comfortable when Caractacus came in and crawled into bed beside him. 

“You try to wake me up before noon I’ll paddle your ass,” Nevada grumbled, curling an arm around Caractacus as the inventor snuggled against his side. 

“I won’t,” Caractacus murmured. “I’m sleeping until noon.”

“He’s okay,” Nevada said after a few moments of silence.

“I feel like I’m only now starting to breathe again,” Caractacus admitted, and he felt Nevada’s arm tighten around him. “The very worst thing in the world is being unable to help your child…” He trailed off and pressed closer against Nevada, seeking his comforting heat. “I’m glad you were here.”

“Me, too.”

Caractacus smiled. “You’re turning into a sap.”

“Bite your tongue or I’ll bite it for you,” Nevada growled, and Caractacus chuckled quietly as he lifted his head for a quick kiss before resettling against him. He felt Nevada’s fingers sifting gently through his hair. Caractacus closed his eyes and let himself drift toward sleep, safe in the knowledge that he wasn’t alone.


End file.
